The British National Party has lodged a complaint with the police on race grounds after students were directed to a list of names and postcodes of members on the internet.
Staffordshire University's student union president Assed Baig posted an article on the union website, which contained a link to a site identifying 30 BNP members living within two miles of the university's Stoke campus in College Road.
It was removed from the website on Wednesday hours after The Sentinel contacted the union, which stressed the article expressed the views of an individual and not necessarily its other members. Some students posted comments on the union website in response to the article before it was removed, the majority of which were against the publication of the link.
BNP Councillor Michael Coleman yesterday made a formal complaint to Staffordshire Police. He told The Sentinel: "This is clearly a criminal act. Members are now afraid that people, predominantly students, are going to go round to their homes and smash their windows. There is an unwritten rule that in politics you do not involve people's homes or families. This kind of thing will set a precedent for the future that we do not want to see in Stoke-on-Trent.
"The complaint has been lodged on the grounds that the president of the student union has broken data protection laws, as well as the race relations act and the public order act, because he has incited people to cause violence. His actions have led us to believe that he is pursuing radicalism within the student union body.
"We are a political party and it looks like he is trying to use the student body to serve his own aims. If you want to oppose us then you should stand on the street and distribute leaflets. What Mr Assed has done is totally unacceptable. He needs to be told in no uncertain terms that this is not a road we want to go down. We are pursuing this matter with the police because members are quite rightly furious and very concerned about it."
Stoke-on-Trent City Council BNP group leader Councillor Alby Walker, pictured, said: "We believe Mr Assed has broken data protection act laws and that the posting of the link to BNP members details was racially motivated."
Chief Inspector Peter Hall, of Stoke-on-Trent division, said: "We are making arrangements to discuss Mr Coleman's concerns and investigate any potential offences."
Mr Baig was unavailable for comment.
The Sentinel
November 20, 2009
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7 comments:
The hypocrisy of the BNP is staggering.
I would think that any racial element would be very hard to find, let alone proove, but has been done for future propoganda reasons - along the lines of 'Remember last year when the police/CPA refused to prosecute an Asian for openly encouraging violence against whites in Stoke...' as soon as one of their members is arrested for any Racially Aggravated offence.
Incitement, breach of data protection and simple basic stupidity; now there are offences which probably could be proven, and could result in major problems for Mr Baig, if the BNP use a decent solicitor and not Barnes.
He could easily be found guilty of encouraging violence, and as the Students Union have already dropped him like a hot brick and blamed everything on him as an individual, any compensation is likely to be from him alone - plus any conviction, as he has used college property (ie a computer, internet link and college name) could well lead to his expulsion from the college.
A very bad precident being set, down to his own idiocy, but let's hope that the BNP rely on the genius tyhat is Barnes, rather than someone that is sane, to bring it about!
Is this the same BNP accused of breaching the Data Protection Act?
http://m.democracyforum.co.uk/ukip/67288-ukip-bnp-paid-ukip-member-list.html
If Mr Baig is guilty of anything at all, it's breaching the Data Protection Act by reprinting this information. According to reports, he simply felt that people should be told the whereabouts of local BNP members so they could keep clear of them. All this bollocks from the BNP about threats to their members is just that.
Funny how the BNP never uttered a sound when their own people, Nick Cass among them, were supplying pictures of anti-fascists to Redwatch with a clear view to attacking them.
"The hypocrisy of the BNP is staggering."
It is, and the police should treat this 'complaint' with the contempt it deserves.
n.b. Lancaster Unity should organise a whip-round if Mr Baig is fined under the DPA.
The BNP stated that the list was a fake. Either it isn't a fake or their is no case to answer?
The could make things easier for themselves if they didn't lie so much.
I recommend all to visit the BNP website and read their take on it.
Anonymous said...
The BNP stated that the list was a fake. Either it isn't a fake or their is no case to answer?
The could make things easier for themselves if they didn't lie so much.
4:14 PM, November 20,
So there is no one on this website
lying? You are paid to by the Labour party.
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